Artist Templar: Ernie Chan

Ernie Chan is one of those artists of my childhood in comics that informed a lot of how I see comics.

His style, whether pencilling or inking, had a scuffed reality that I adored and still do.

Chan came from the Phillipines in the early 1970s, originally under the name "Ernie Chua" as it was misspelled on his immigration form. The "Chua" variant cleaves Chan's career almost in half, as "Chua" went on to work for DC Comics initially, pencilling many memorable covers and the interiors on Batman comics.

Once he became a citizen in 1976 under his birth name, Chan was first spotted by me during his stint inking Sal Buscema on THE INCREDIBLE HULK in the mid-1970s.

Of course, Chan redefined an era in Pulpdom while inking Sal's brother John Buscema on various Conan the Barbarian-related comics and kin within that sword/sorcery sub-genre.

Ernie Chan continues to do commission work, several years after officially retiring from comics. His website provides a contact for anyone seeking Chan's newer works on request.

Someday soon I hope very much to get a commission from this man.

http://www.erniechan.com/